Piaget’s Developmental Psychology Essay

Piaget (1896-1980) believed that there was a duodecimal difference between the intelligence of big(a)s, y push throughh pincerren and older clawren. He believed adults redeem better knowledge of the world and because baby birdren do non use the very(prenominal) logic in there intending. He believed that pincerrens logic channelised as they developed through their quadruplet awards of life Piaget came to this conclusion after finish his cognitive development test. Unlike psychologist Siegler and Huges, Piaget is a theoretical psychologist and carried step to the fore many a(prenominal) experiments to illustrate his theories.These stages convey been critisied by many psychologist including Hughes, Siegler, Rose, Blank. Sensorimotor Stage Piaget believed that a new born had basic biological motivations, and acquired knowledge by appointment and assimilation, and once a pincer has acquired these schemas it would be at equilibration. It has been argued that Piaget unde restimated the intelligence of a newborn. Piagets sample did non illustrate a wide word form of baberen and then his experiment cannot be related to every child at that relevant age. His study was also only preformed on his throw children accordingly results could have been bias.Similar experiments were devised by other psychologist giving different conclusions, indicating Piagets results were not always reliable. Piagets first stage stated that a baby (0-2) first explores the world using motor and reflex actions. For character a child reaches towards an target and after many attempts will be able to eventually grasp the object and then bring the object to its mouth and will continue to explore it uses the senses of taste and smell. A child is said to have completed this stage of development once they have obtained object permanence (a child understands that an object still exists even when it is not visible).This theory was well-tried by giving a 5-6 months old child a ma sh to play with, the toy was covered with a textile and the babys behavior observed. Results showed that a baby immediately baffled interest as if the object never existed. notwithstanding when tried with a 10 month old child it would continue to reach for the toy although it could not see it. Another explanation is that the child did not think the toy had seized to exist but was distracted by the movement of the cloth, which is why the child looks away and appears to have forgot the toy.Bower and Wishart (1972) argued that it does still exist in a babies mind even when it may not be visible. in that location experiment was done on a baby less than quadruple months the baby was rancidered a toy but as it reached for the toy the lights were switched off this showed that even when the lights were off the child continued to reach for the toy. It can be argued that the child was not reaching out for the toy but was alone reaching due to the discomfort of the sudden darkness. Thi s study could also go against the ethics as the child could have been experiencing fear from the sudden red sight. Pre- operational StageAt this stage a child develops symbolic thinking another characteristic of this stage is self-interest. Piaget devised a three mountain toil to test this theory. A child was sat in front of a three mountains model, a doll was then placed at varies positions in the modeled mountains and pictures were presented, they were asked to pick the picture that represented what the doll could see. Four and cardinal year olds selected the picture showing what they could see, this suggested that they thought the doll could see what they could identifying egocentrism. However most seven years old were able to identify the wane picture.Due to Piagets selection of children it was very difficult to apply his findings to others, his own children were used throughout most of his experiment and any others were from well educate backgrounds. It can be argued tha t this experiment lacked ecological validity as the child could not relate to the situation they were presented with. Hughes devised a task to test egocentrism in a child but relating to an everyday situation, children as young as three and a half resulted the question aright, and 90% of children tested altogether were able to give the correct answer. Concrete operational stageA child enters this stage when they understand the appearance of something may change although the item itself remains the similar. Piaget tested this stage by setting out a row of counters in front of each child, than asking the child to make another row the resembling as the first one. Piaget would than ranch out his row of counters and ask the child if there were still the same amount of counters. This experiment tested a childs preservation of numbers. Most seven year olds were able to answer this question correctly concluding by the age of seven children are able to hold numbers.To test the conserva tion of liquidity Piaget collected two identical furnish A + B and a taller thin container C and asked the child which container held more, he then transferred the liquid from A+B to C and asked the child again. When a child was able to identify that both containers held the same amount of liquid they had achieved the concrete operational stage. Many aspects of this test have been criticized, including the social circumstance of the childs understanding. Rose and Blank argued that when a child is asked the same question twice they directd there first answer was awry(p) and changed their answer.When Rose and Blank replicated this experiment and only asked the question once most six years olds gave the correct answer. McGarriglr and Donaldson (1974) argued that as the adult changed the appearance children would assume this was significant so devised an experiment were the appearance of the items were changed accidently. Children tested were between four and six, results showed th at more than half tested gave the correct answer. Confirming children conserve at a younger age than Piaget claimed. Formal Operational StageA child shows logical thinking but generally needs to be able to work through sequences with actual objects. Once a child can manipulate ideas in their head it has entered the formal operational stage. Piaget tested this by giving each child string and weights and told them to find out which factors affects a complete swing of the pendulum they could vary the weights, length of string and dur business leader of push. Piaget found children who had entered the formal operational stage approached the task systematically interrogatory one variable at a time.Psychologist Robert Siegler (1979) tested children aged vanadium and upwards, by using the balance beam test. Results showed that eventually the child would leave into account the interaction between the weight and the disc but would not achieve this ability until they were between 13 and 17 . This concluded that childrens cognitive development is based on acquiring and using rules in progressively more complex situations instead of stages. Conclusion Piaget tested his children and well-educated professionals therefore making his findings ungeneralised and potentially bias.Subsequent questions relating to the childs individual answer may have led children to give the answer researchers were looking for. Piaget underestimated the ability of childrens social understanding. A childs perception of an adult the importance of a familiar context and the meaning of a s question all affect a childs performance. Weaknesses in Piaget experiment prevent children from showing what understood. Piaget overestimated the age at which children entered the formal operational stage (Siegler). As Piaget centered on individual children he failed to back out social settings into account.He failed to show that development is continuous and not in stages Evidence suggests that environmental factors, ethics and gender could alter a childs development. Small samples and controllability of variables were not taken into account. Piagets had very little proof to support his findings and believed that his finding could be applied to every child. Piagets focus on qualitative development has played an important role on education. Piaget opened the opportunities for others to learn and discover more on how children development.